Understanding Your Tennessee Divorce Agreement
A Divorce Agreement, or Marital Dissolution Agreement, is a legal contract that reflects your agreement with your spouse on the grounds for divorce, division of your property and debts, and other terms of your divorce.
Possible grounds for divorce in Tennessee include:
Either party, at the time of the contract, was and still is naturally impotent and incapable of procreation;
Either party has knowingly entered into a second marriage, in violation of a previous marriage, still subsisting
Either party has committed adultery
Willful or malicious desertion or absence of either party, without a reasonable cause, for 1 year
Being convicted of any crime which, by the laws of the state, renders the party infamous
Being convicted of a crime which, by the laws of the state, is declared to be a felony, and sentenced to confinement in the penitentiary
Either party has attempted the life of the other, by poison or any other means showing malice
Refusal, on the part of a spouse, to remove with that person’s spouse to this state, without a reasonable cause, and being willfully absent from the spouse residing in Tennessee for 2 years
The wife was pregnant at the time of the marriage, by another person, without the knowledge of the husband
Habitual drunkenness or abuse of narcotic drugs by either party, when the spouse has contracted either such habit after marriage
Irreconcilable differences between the parties
For a continuous period of 2 or more years, both parties have lived in separate residences, the parties have not cohabitated as man and wife during such period, and there are no minor children of the parties
The husband or wife is guilty of such cruel and inhuman treatment or conduct towards the spouse as renders cohabitation unsafe and improper, which may also be referred to in pleadings as inappropriate marital conduct
The husband has offered such indignities to the wife’s person as to render the wife’s condition intolerable, and thereby forced the wife to withdraw
The husband has abandoned the wife, or turned the wife out of doors, and refused or neglected to provide for the wife.
Courts consider the following factors when deciding dividing property:
The duration of the marriage
The age, physical and mental health, vocational skills, employability, earning capacity, estate, financial liabilities, and financial needs of each of the parties
The tangible or intangible contribution by one party to the education, training, or increased earning power of the other party
The relative ability of each party for future acquisitions of capital assets and income
The contribution of each party to the acquisition, preservation, appreciation, depreciation, or dissipation of the marital or separate property, including the contribution of a party to the marriage as homemaker, wage earner or parent, with the contribution of a party as homemaker or wage earner to be given the same weight if each party has fulfilled its role
The value of the separate property of each party
The estate of each party at the time of the marriage
The economic circumstances of each party at the time the division of property is to become effective
The tax consequences to each party, costs associated with the reasonably foreseeable sale of the asset, and other reasonably foreseeable expenses associated with the asset
The amount of Social Security benefits available to each spouse
Such other factors as are necessary to consider the equities between the parties
Courts consider the following factors when dividing debts:
The debt’s purpose
Which party incurred the debt
Which party benefited from incurring the debt
Which party is best able to repay the debt
